Shenandoah National Park

We made a quick dash to Shenandoah National Park this weekend to have a getaway for Labor Day.  It was very last minute, which meant we only had two nights due to all campsites getting booked well before we booked ours.  We had a bit of a late start, since I worked a full day Thursday, and then got caught in traffic.  By the time we made it to our campsite, it was fully dark.  Thankfully this wasn't my first time putting up this tent.

We got the tent put up before the rain came.  We were surrounded by lightning and thunder for a good bit of the night, but thankfully no heavy rain.  I woke up early the next morning to photograph sunrise, but that fizzled.

So I went back to the campsite, where Catherine and the kids were already awake.  We made breakfast and then went to the Visitor's Center to pick up Junior Ranger booklets for the kids.  Wouldn't you know it, they changed the booklets the day after we picked up ours, and changed the requirements from 12 to 5.  Needless to say, the kids were busy.  Ian put up a bit of a fuss, but was all smiles when he got his badge.

During the morning ranger walk (above), it started to rain on us, and really came down pretty hard.  It rained off and on for the rest of the day.  We couldn't stray too far from the car (though we did manage to climb the second highest mountain in the park) since every time we did, we got hit with lightning, thunder, and/or rain.  Prior to climbing Stony Man mountain, while the kids and Catherine were still in the car, I was off checking out the sign about the trail.  There was lighting and thunder in the area, but a little distance away.  Until I was reading the sign, that is.  Simultaneous flash and boom led to a quick dash to the car!  We waited until well after that storm moved away, but even then, our time at the top of Stony Man was short since I didn't want to be up when another storm rolled in.

After that, things settled down for a bit.  We did a nice hike up Bearfence trail, but the viewpoint wasn't that great.  That, and another series of storms started to move in, so down we hiked.  We drove the mile or so north to my chosen sunset location and cooked dinner at the overlook.  We had to eat inside the car since another storm was moving to the west of us, with lightning and thunder.  That eventually passed (do you detect a pattern?) and we walked down to our sunset location, where sunset fizzled.

It was nice to hang out with the kids, and they had a great time playing (until they got bored at the end) and taking their own photos.  We made it back to our campsite, which had been dumped on by the rain, with a little bit of sunlight left, just enough to change and crawl into bed.  That is when the rain started, in earnest.  It rained on and off the whole night and into the morning.  We stayed dry - but are definitely glad to be home for tonight with our gear drying outside.

Have a great Labor Day Weekend everybody!

Cheers,

Marc